Lena Dunham’s Brown Baby On The ‘Girls’ Finale Gets Serious Backlash

She tried it.

If by any chance you tuned into the series finale of HBO’s Girls, you might have been caught off guard by a melanin surprise.

Let us catch you up to speed. The lead character of the show, Hannah, played by Lena Dunham, is White. Hannah becomes pregnant by a stoner dude character named Paul-Louis, played by Riz Ahmed, who is an Anglo-Pakistani actor. Some visuals for you:

I'll be watching Lena Dunham's #GIRLS for the FIRST time today just cos Riz Ahmed is in it. Will let you guys know how it goes. (HELP!) pic.twitter.com/4AZSipf4YY

We’re no experts on genetics, but it’s highly unlikely a very White Lena Dunham would birth a baby that brown, considering the light-skinned tone of Ahmed. Some folks are not pleased with the baby surprise, calling it lazy and an unexplained element that deserves exploration.

Girls hasn’t had a good rapport with the subject of race. It’s first season was criticized for an almost all-White cast. Once the show decided to portray characters of color, many said it seemed forced. Now, to have what appears to be a Black baby, who would have to navigate the mostly-White world of Lena Dunham, is not only a cliffhanger, but a missed opportunity to explore a very complex subject.

But do people really expect a lot from Dunham when it comes to nuanced narratives about race? You tell us.